A new installment of the Gaspard de la Nuit Saga.
Having very successfully performed Ondine Tuesday evening having picked it up less than three weeks beforehand after several months' hiatus, I undertook Scarbo Wednesday morning. I've never even sightread through it before, so this has been a challenge. So far, since I haven't had anything major going on Wednesday through today (except Thanksgiving, when I didn't play the piano at all, thank God), I've moved relatively quickly through it. I have the first 435 measures of the 627 measure piece more or less learned. Today, I thought I would devote a post to a specific passage that is troubling me.
Every time I listen to this piece, the moment that overwhelms me is the arpeggio in mm. 228-234 (pictured) and its sequence transposed down a fourth in mm. 249-255. A perfectly-executed diminuendo as it flies up literally the entire span of the keyboard sends chills down my spine again and again. Needless to say, I have a sense of responsibility to pass that impression on to my audience. When I first arrived at that moment in learning the piece, Wednesday (day 1), I worked at it two hours at a stretch. It's Saturday and I am only slightly less dissatisfied.
The principal issue is that the arpeggio is simply awkward to play. It fits too well into the hand in some places, and once it comes time to shift up to the next octave, there is nothing natural about the movement. Furthermore, Ravel has both hands shifting up together, landing in the new position on each beat. This makes it easy to have a pulsing effect rather than a gentle "whoosh" up to the pianississimo A7.
A second main issue is that the forte D#1 at the bottom of the arpeggio doesn't decay quickly enough for the arpeggio to be heard in the last two octaves. This means that this already-awkward arpeggio must be playable completely smoothly with no pedal at all. Then I can clear the pedal after, say, C#5 and have the control over the sound I need to finish effectively.
Having very successfully performed Ondine Tuesday evening having picked it up less than three weeks beforehand after several months' hiatus, I undertook Scarbo Wednesday morning. I've never even sightread through it before, so this has been a challenge. So far, since I haven't had anything major going on Wednesday through today (except Thanksgiving, when I didn't play the piano at all, thank God), I've moved relatively quickly through it. I have the first 435 measures of the 627 measure piece more or less learned. Today, I thought I would devote a post to a specific passage that is troubling me.
Every time I listen to this piece, the moment that overwhelms me is the arpeggio in mm. 228-234 (pictured) and its sequence transposed down a fourth in mm. 249-255. A perfectly-executed diminuendo as it flies up literally the entire span of the keyboard sends chills down my spine again and again. Needless to say, I have a sense of responsibility to pass that impression on to my audience. When I first arrived at that moment in learning the piece, Wednesday (day 1), I worked at it two hours at a stretch. It's Saturday and I am only slightly less dissatisfied. The principal issue is that the arpeggio is simply awkward to play. It fits too well into the hand in some places, and once it comes time to shift up to the next octave, there is nothing natural about the movement. Furthermore, Ravel has both hands shifting up together, landing in the new position on each beat. This makes it easy to have a pulsing effect rather than a gentle "whoosh" up to the pianississimo A7.
A second main issue is that the forte D#1 at the bottom of the arpeggio doesn't decay quickly enough for the arpeggio to be heard in the last two octaves. This means that this already-awkward arpeggio must be playable completely smoothly with no pedal at all. Then I can clear the pedal after, say, C#5 and have the control over the sound I need to finish effectively.
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